Cattāri Brahmavihārā

It occurred to me this morning that my preoccupation with ordering my life to maximize comfort and minimize anxiety is just one more burden I’ve taken up. Things tend to change so quickly and never play out quite the way we imagined and yet I’m constantly trying to second guess reality. Why twist myself into knots over things that may never come pass?

But, these are just words. The moment that it became real for me happened this morning when I felt, if only briefly, that this worry was almost a physical weight on my chest. My mind’s eye also briefly sketch a gray brown, double-handled burlap sack that must have been the sign of worry. Why carry this around and make myself less ready to confront the inevitable difficulties of life?

If I can only take the sage advice and stop adding on heaping helpings of worry it’s quite conceivable that I could halve my daily dukkha! Yet, any of us who have spent even a little time trying to train oneself in any discipline will know that it’s never a simple proposition when the mind is involved. Wish me luck.